Victorian Books, Illustrations of Scottish History

The following account of the capture and execution of Wallace is transcribed from the Arundel MS. 220, fol. 287, b. From internal evidence the volume appears to have been written about the year 1320, or shortly after.

In the year 1305 [5th August 1305], William Wallace was captured. He had first been a scoundrel and a thief, and later, during the Scottish war, was made a knight by the Scots and became their leader. He invaded Northumbria, which he largely burned, including even the noble church of Hexham. However, he was captured in the house of a certain Rowe Ra by Lord John of Menteith and brought to London by Lord John de Segrave. There, having received judgment, he was first drawn as a traitor, then hanged as a thief, then, while still alive, cut down and beheaded as a banished man. Afterward, he was disemboweled and his entrails were burned, just as he had burned churches full of men and women. Then his body was divided into four parts, just as he had wished to divide the people of Scotland from their king, Edward. His head was placed on display in London on the bridge; his right hand on the bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne above the public latrines; his right foot at Berwick; his left hand at Stirling; and his left foot at Perth, that is, the town of St. John.

Anno MCCC quinto, captus est Willelmus Waleys, qui primo fuit ribaldus et latro, et postea in guerra Scociae factus miles a Scotis, et ductor eorum factus, intravit Northumbriam, quam pro magna parte conbussit, sed etiam illam nobilem ecclesiam de Exilsham. Captus autem erat in domo cujusdam Rowe Ra per dominum Johannem de Menethet, et ductus Londonias per dominum Johannem de Segrave, ibique accepto judicio, ibique primo tractus tanquam traytour, postea suspensus tanquam latro, et vivus post deorsum dimissus decapitatus est tanquam forbannitus, deinde exentratus et viscera sua combusta sunt, sicut et ipse ecclesiam hominum et mulierum conbusserat. Post hoc in quatuor partes divisus, sicut et ipse gentem Scottorum voluit a rege suo Edwardo divisisse, caputque ejus suspensum est Londoniis super pontem, manus dextra super pontem apud Novum Castrum super Tynam ultra cloacas communes, pes dexter apud Berewyk, manus sinistra apud Strivelyn, et pes sinister apud Perth, id est villam Sancti Johannis.